Legal aid lawyers have been ‘left in limbo’ by the Legal Services Commission’s continuing failure to announce the outcome of the family and social welfare tenders, practitioners said this week.

Firms were originally due to find out the results of the bidding exercise last month, but that was delayed until 9 July. Last week the LSC said it would ‘start notifying’ applicants on 9 July, but due to the ‘scale of the exercise’ some firms may not hear until 19 July, less than three months before the new contracts start on 14 October.

As the Gazette went to press, only the community care and employment results had been relayed to providers, with early feedback suggesting some contracts are too small to be financially viable.

An LSC spokesman said the main reason for the delay is the need to conduct due diligence checks against information from providers. He said 10% of family bidders claimed to have Law Society panel members, while information from Chancery Lane indicates there are not that many.

The spokesman said more matter starts had been awarded to a greater number of providers in the community care and employment contracts.

Legal Aid Practitioners Group director Carol Storer said those who get contracts will need to take into account the fact that, while they are scheduled to run for three years, the Ministry of Justice could terminate the contract with six months’ notice.

She added: ‘This delay is causing huge levels of stress within the profession. Some people can barely concentrate at work and one of our members has had to go to her GP with palpitations due to anxiety.’

Judith Crisp, a partner at Cumbria firm Bleasdale & Co, said: ‘We’re being left in limbo. If we’re not told the outcome until 19 July that leaves less than three months to make necessary staffing or winding-up arrangements.’

The Ministry of Justice would not provide any assurance that the contracts would run for their full length, but said it was open to both sides to terminate them with six months’ notice.